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NEW JERSEY HERALD (New Jersey) 21 July 03 Snake bites Franklin man (Brendan Berls)
A Franklin resident was hospitalized Saturday after being bitten on the right index finger by a snake which was later found to be a venomous northern copperhead.
The copperhead is one of two species of poisonous snakes native to New Jersey, the other being the endangered timber rattlesnake.
Police arrived at the SCARC house on Munsonhurst Road about 7:15 a.m. Saturday, where Kyle Williamson, 43, a house resident, had apparently been bitten by a snake which was in the basement.
After police determined the snake to be poisonous — although its species was still unknown — paramedics and Wantage Animal Control were also called. Paramedics arrived along with the Wallkill Valley First Aid Squad, which brought Williamson to Newton Memorial Hospital.
The animal control officer who responded to the house captured the snake and contacted Space Farms Zoo & Museum in Beemerville to help identify the reptile. According to Parker Space, who owns Space Farms, the animal control officer met him at the True Value hardware store on Route 23 in Wantage, where he had been shopping, and showed him the snake in the parking lot, where it was confined in a bucket with a lid.
“I think we were both surprised,” said Space. “(The animal control officer) assumed it was a milk snake, and I told him that 98, 99 percent of the time, that’s exactly what it is. But I took one look in that bucket, and I said, ‘ .... that’s a copperhead.’”
This was the second snakebite incident involving a copperhead to occur in the area during the past week. On Monday, a woman in Jefferson was bitten in the ankle after apparently stepping on a snake while walking her dog.
The snake in the Jefferson incident was immediately killed by residents who came to the woman’s aid. The copperhead in this case, however, which is about 12 inches in length, is now housed in the snake pit at Space Farms. Space plans to release it into the wild around Sunrise Mountain, where it will be able to hibernate over the winter, sometime this fall.
With severe swelling in his right hand, Williamson was brought to the emergency room at Newton Memorial, where he was administered anti-venom, according to Diane Crowley, the hospital’s nursing supervisor.
Although this was the second such incident to occur in northwest New Jersey in five days, snakebite cases remain exceedingly rare in the area, and usually happen less than once per year. The last known instance of a copperhead biting a human took place in June 2002. The victim in that case, Charles Keiffer of Wantage, ended up being transferred from Newton Memorial to Jacoby Hospital in New York, which specializes in anti-venom.
Cases of snakebite at Newton Memorial are, said Crowley, “few and far between, thank goodness.”
Williamson was later released from the emergency room and admitted to the hospital, where on Saturday afternoon he was listed in good condition, according to public relations officer Brian Grace. Williamson was being kept at the hospital to make sure that the swelling in his right hand did not spread to any other part of his body, Grace said. It seemed likely, however, that Williamson would be released without having to spend the night at the hospital.
“A copperhead could potentially be as venomous as a rattlesnake,” said Space, “but since they’re a lot smaller, the dose of venom is a lot less. And the only way they’re going to bite a human is if they believe their life is in danger.”
According to Space, the venom of a copperhead is designed to immobilize and kill prey such as small rodents. The snake will usually bite its prey and then allow it to run away while the venom does its work. The poison essentially breaks down a small animal’s internal cellular structure, so that by the time the snake catches up to its prey and begins to dine, it has already been partially digested.
“So when a person gets bit,” says Space, “they’re getting digested on a small scale.”
Space advises hikers to always wear rubber shoes while in the woods and to be careful where they place their hands — “because that’s where a snake’ll bite you: at the point of contact.”
Snake bites Franklin man

NEWS 12 (New Jersey) 20 July 03 Two people bitten by snakes in north NJ
Beemersville: Animal experts said two snake-biting incidents in northern New Jersey in the past week are rare occurrences. Police said 43-year-old Kyle Williamson was bitten on his right index finger by a copperhead snake on Munsonhurst Road in Franklin Saturday. On Monday, a copperhead snake bit a woman in Jefferson as she walked her dog.
Williamson was treated with anti-venom at Newton Memorial Hospital. The woman was bitten on her left ankle, and she is in good condition. Authorities believe the woman stepped on the snake, and that is what caused it to bite her.
Animal control found the snake in Williamson's basement and took it to Space Farms Zoo and Museum in Sussex. Space Farms officials said copperheads and timber rattlesnakes live in north Jersey but only attack people when they feel threatened. They added that the bite of a copperhead is poisonous but not life threatening.
Two people bitten by snakes in north NJ